Duncan Public Schools is combating childhood hunger, but providing free breakfast and lunches again this year.
Thanks to an ongoing grant, the school district is able to provide free meals for the second consecutive year. This includes every one of the nearly 800 Duncan Middle School students. In the first semester of the 2020-21 school year, the middle school also provided free lunches.
For DMS students, each day provides different lunch options to give students a choice in the foods they get.
Tate Armstrong, an eighth-grade student, said he appreciates the free meals and thinks the dining options do a good job of covering student needs and wants, while also adhering to child nutrition requirements.
Armstrong said his favorite of the provided meals is the Bosco sticks because he thinks they taste good.
However, not all students like the food options.
Chloee Rogers, a seventh-grade student, said she would prefer to have fast food options.
¨We should have McDonald’s and other foods like that,” Rogers said.
She wasn’t alone in feeling that a change to the menu might be in order.
Tate Carrasco, an eighth-grade student, said he likes the free food, but he does get tired of some of the food options that show up often.
¨We should have chicken nuggets everyday instead of pizza,” Carrasco said.
Similarly to Armstrong, Carrasco said he also liked the Bosco sticks the most out of the food provided by the middle school.
While the food is free for breakfast and lunch, students also get a choice in milk. However, some students think that there should be additional options to beverages.
Some of the suggested options included free water (instead of students buying bottles of water from the vending machine), orange juice, apple juice and soft drinks, including Mountain Dew.
Although some students did make suggestions to changing some of the food options, Armstrong said he didn’t think the food needed to be changed.
